England rounded off their autumn internationals with a second defeat in three matches, although the visit of New Zealand to Twickenham was always the most likely fixture to bring a defeat.
Despite the comfortable margin of victory for the visitors, there was actually more for the English to take out of this game than either the defeat against Australia or the win over Argentina. The home side showed more attacking intent, did some good work in the set pieces and the contact area, mainly in the first half, and forced All Black errors, allowing them to build territory and possession. However, they committed far too many errors and offered little threat or invention inside the visitors’ 22, and a sub-par New Zealand side was far too comfortable in the final quarter.
The first half began with a crashing tackle by Matt Banahan, and the All Blacks briefly looked flustered, with the usually reliable Dan Carter missing two kicks at goal, and scuffing a kick for touch. Mils Muliaina thought he had scored a try in the corner after Dan Hipkiss failed to stop a run by Carter, but a last ditch tackle from Ugo Monye saved the day. England were also making mistakes however, and apart from a correctly disallowed Monye try following a knock-on, there was little threat, resulting in a 6-6 scoreline at the interval. It was encouraging for England that they were level, but they also needed to recognise that had Carter been kicking to his usual standard, they would have been behind.
In the second half, the home side showed similar industry, but despite finding themselves within five metres of the All Blacks’ try line on a couple of occasions, they had little idea of how to breach the defence, and their efforts were summed up when Jonny Wilkinson failed with a drop-goal attempt the first time that the ball came out to the backs, despite having men outside him. Meanwhile, the visitors began to exert some authority, and put the game beyond England with 20 minutes remaining when a well-worked move down the blindside led to Richie McCaw putting Jimmy Cowan over for a try with an intelligent pass.
A comfortable win for New Zealand, despite the All Blacks being far from their best. Their most impressive attribute was their defence, though the home side never really asked questions of it either. For England, Lewis Moody was again the standout, Simon Shaw brought much needed power to the pack, whilst Croft, Hodgson and Haskell also did many good things. Haskell however, was one of many England players guilty of mistakes at key moments, and the lack of precision and invention will worry Martin Johnson over Christmas. If England can build on this platform then there is hope for the Six Nations, but until they start scoring tries they will continue to lag behind their rivals. New Zealand meanwhile, also have much to work on after a year in which they lost four games, but they will feel happy with their defence, and the way that their young players are integrating with the veterans.
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